Tatar-Bashkir Report: January 28, 2000

Tatarstan's Security Council To Hold First SessionTatarstan's Security Council that was formed on 13 September will hold its first meeting on 28 January. According to the Tatarinform agency, President Mintimer Shaimiev is the chairman of the council and Prime Minister Rustam Minnikhanov and parliamentary speaker Farit Mukhametshin are deputies. The former head of Tatarstan's State Security Committee, Viner Salimov, was appointed a secretary of the council.

In an interview with Tatarinform, Salimov said the creation of the Security Council was "accelerated by the terrorist acts in Moscow and Volgodonsk in September 1999." But he add that "our organization will not only deal with preventing terrorism; it will also promote the environmental and economic safety of Tatarstan's population."

TACIS Programs Will Not Be FrozenPlans by the European Council to suspend the activities of the TACIS foundation in Russia will not affect the programs in Tatarstan, the chairwoman of the Red Cross branch in Tatarstan, Lucia Akhmadullina, announced on 27 January. Akhmadullina told the republican press that the suspension could affect the TACIS governmental programs involved with the Russian economy and industry. In Tatarstan, TACIS reportedly runs the charitable program Societal Resources Development. The next visit of the TACIS specialists to Kazan is reportedly scheduled for February in order to plan seminars and lectures.

Moscow To Assist Tatarstans's Aircraft IndustryDuring his visit to Kazan on 26 January, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said that there would be a maximum of four air industry concerns in Russia by the end of 2000, republican press reported the next day. Klebanov said that the concerns will be formed by merging existing aircraft plants in Russia. He also admitted that the Russian aircraft industry could only "survive the competition in the world market if it managed to unite into a maximum of two powerful concerns within the next five years." Tatar President Mintimer Shaimiev said that he "shared this point of view," noting that the republic would only "wish to preserve the right to collect taxes from aircraft producers on its territory." Klebanov replied by calling Shaimiev's statement "a historical moment." The two reportedly agreed that the Russian government will share the certification costs of the Tu-214 aircraft constructed at the Kazan aircraft plant.